


Acted Upon By A Force

by suchanadorer



Series: Indistinguishable From Magic [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Dean/Castiel is implied, M/M, Post S8, if you are looking for lots of Destiel you should turn back now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-19
Updated: 2013-06-19
Packaged: 2017-12-15 11:51:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/849246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suchanadorer/pseuds/suchanadorer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone is trying to get the Winchesters' attention, and Sam thinks he knows who it is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Acted Upon By A Force

Sam is surprised that it took as long as it did, now that he thinks about it. He reads through Charlie’s email again and clicks on the link that brings him into the police database through a back door she built just for them.

Everything is just as she’d written. Three victims, all regular folks, gone on violent sprees that ended with their own deaths. The first one had her eyes burned out. The other two were stabbed to death with a triangular blade that the police still couldn’t identify.

Sam Winchester is better than the police.

“A rogue angel,” Castiel concurs before Sam even says anything out loud. He’s been leaning in over Sam’s shoulder, squinting at the screen while he reads, but now he straightens and walks to the edge of the bed, sitting down by Dean’s feet.

“Some of my brethren have never been to Earth,” Castiel continues. “If they saw a demon, they wouldn’t hesitate to attack. Not all of them have had as much... contact with humanity as I have.”

Dean sniggers where he’s propped up on a pile of pillows, and Castiel gives him a hard glance that breaks quickly into a grin.

Sam returns to the police report. He’s glad this thing between the two of them finally happened, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to watch.

There’s another link that leads to a description of the suspect, and some images. A grainy black-and-white still from a surveillance camera with some kind of distortion. Sam can make out a hood and the shoulder of a coat, but nothing else. Hair color, height, weight, and a sketch from a sanitation worker who’d been on his way to work when he’d bumped into the suspect.

Sam slams the laptop shut so hard that both Dean and Castiel jump.

“We gotta go. Now.”

Half an hour later, the Impala is packed and the three of them are tearing down the road towards a midwest town of absolutely no real consequence, but it’s the only place on Earth Sam wants to be.

Sam won’t explain, which makes Dean drive even more aggressively, but he doesn’t care. He sees Castiel watching him in the rear-view mirror too, but he can’t tell them which angel is waiting for them. If he did, they’d never let him go with them. So the three of them roll down the highway in silence. Dean glances at Sam. Castiel glances between them. Sam keeps his eyes on the road, trying to figure out what he’s feeling before one of them reads it on his face. His only tell is the way his knee bounces. He’s got to get the nervous energy out somehow. Dean glares when he’s not watching the road.

Sam swears he gets lighter the closer they get to the city. He’s not scared. He knows he probably should be, but his biggest concern is that he might he wrong. That, and the inevitable shitstorm that will accompany Dean finding out who Sam dragged them ten hours away to go find.

There’s hope inside Sam, for the first time in a while. The trials took more out of him than he can admit, even more than Dean and Castiel can see. The idea of closing Hell forever kept him up at nights for reasons he never thought he’d be able to say out loud. But now they’d called it off, and Sam’s not sure if this has anything to do with that. He’s not sure he cares why it happened. He’s just glad it did.

It doesn’t take long for the rogue angel to turn up. He comes looking for them at the hotel. It’s a stroke of luck that Sam sees him first, on a trip back to the Impala in search of the power cord for his laptop. He puts a hand out to steady himself against the side of the car. For all that he knew it as soon as he saw the sketch, he’s still having trouble believing it.

Lucifer looks awful. He’s thinner, with more stubble on his face and dark circles under his eyes. The sores are gone, but he still doesn’t look healthy. He straightens and lifts his chin when Sam catches sight of him, and the orange streetlights throw deep shadows over his face.

Sam’s heart speeds up, jumps up into his throat for a moment. He tries to say something, but all that comes out is a huff of breath. He thinks he’s smiling. He knows he’s trembling. He’s thought about this a lot in the last couple of years, but he’d convinced itself that it was impossible, and now he’s at a loss for what to do or say.

For all that Sam is surprised, it is nothing compared to the shock on Lucifer’s face. What little color was left drains from his cheeks, and his eyes go wide as he takes Sam in. He looks hurt, and Sam doesn’t know why, but he wants to, so he can see if he can stop it. He owes Lucifer that much at least.

He doesn’t get the chance to find out.

“Jeez, Sammy, the car’s not that big. How hard is it to find a damn--” Dean’s rant is cut short by the sound of him taking the safety off his gun.

Sam sighs and squeezes his eyes shut.

“You okay, Sam?” Dean calls from the door.

“I’m fine, Dean,” Sam answers, leaning back without turning his head or taking his eyes off Lucifer who, for his part, barely seems to have registered Dean’s presence. All of his considerable focus is still on Sam.

Dean’s boots scrape on the sidewalk as he comes closer.

“You knew, didn’t you? This was your big hurry?” Sam flinches at the betrayal in Dean’s voice, and soon enough he sees Dean in his peripheral vision, red-faced and furious, still pointing his gun at Lucifer. “You found out the devil was in town and your first thought was to go to him.”

“Hello to you too, Dean.” Lucifer’s voice is gravelly and worn. It matches the rest of him. “I was hoping my demon hunting would get your attention. I’m glad I succeeded.”

Sam and Dean give him a matched set of baffled looks.

“Since when do you hunt demons?”

“How did you get out of the Cage?”

They talk over each other, and Lucifer smiles. “I never liked demons. And as for your question, Sam.” He pauses, as if enjoying the feeling of Sam’s name on his tongue. “If I’ve understood correctly, that’s due in large part to my brother over there, and Metatron.”

Dean turns without lowering the gun, and Sam looks back over his shoulder. Castiel is looming in the doorway. He’s spent a lot of the last couple years looking guilty, but he is currently wearing a never before seen level of shame. Not for the first time, Sam feels sorry for him and his predilection for screwing up when trying to do the right thing.

He knows the feeling.

Sam is thinking fast, trying to defuse the situation. He’d wanted to come find Lucifer. Something inside him had told him it was the right thing to do as soon as he’d seen that photo. If he’d been in the driver’s seat, he could’ve gotten them to this hotel with his eyes closed, and now that he’s seen him he’s relieved, but Dean is still holding a gun trained on him and trying to edge in between the two of them.

“The spell,” Sam starts, and Lucifer nods solemnly. “Metatron’s spell. It pulled angels to the Earth, but it wasn’t specific when it came to directions.” He speaks faster and faster as he puts the pieces together. “So while all the other angels went down--”

“Michael and I were hurled up to the surface again,” Lucifer finishes. Dean looks like he is going to explode, but Sam is grinning, exhilarated by solving the puzzle. Lucifer looks proud of him.

“What about Adam?” Dean demands.

Lucifer shrugs. “My brother is still possessing him, and he left me as soon as we were free. He saw the others falling and was... distraught. He wanted to try to help them.” Lucifer speaks more slowly now, chooses his words carefully. “So do I. That’s why I wanted you to find me.”

He nods straight at Dean, and Sam frowns. He shouldn’t care that Lucifer was sending out signals for his brother, but he does and it’s strange and he can’t explain it. Why wouldn’t Lucifer want his help?

Dean lowers his gun and shifts, uncomfortable under the full brunt of Lucifer’s gaze.

Lucifer seems to sense it and shifts his attention.

“I ‘m sorry about your Grace, Castiel.” Lucifer looks past them and musters a smile in Castiel’s direction. “You look well.”

“You don’t,” Castiel replies. “Killing that first demon must have taken a lot out of you.”

“I’m a special case,” Lucifer starts, but he’s cut off by Dean’s flat laugh. Dean, in turn, is silenced when both Sam and Lucifer turn to look at him.

“When I was cast out, I was cut off from Heaven with all my grace intact,” Lucifer continues. “This, so that I could rule in Hell. Now that Metatron has closed the gates, all the other angels are cut off from Heaven. Their Grace will fade. Mine won’t.”

Castiel nods, and Sam watches them, tries to imagine Lucifer suffering the way that Castiel has, the way he did the first time he was cut off from Heaven. This time has been easier because Castiel has had Dean, but Lucifer hasn’t had anyone. He probably can’t even go to other angels.

Sam doesn’t know long he stands and looks at Lucifer looking back at him, but apparently it’s too long, because Dean clears his throat and rattles the gun in his hand.

“I need somewhere to stay,” Lucifer says without taking his eyes off Sam. “And if you’re going after Metatron, I can help.”

“Not gonna happen,” Dean replies cooly.

“Dean, come on.” Sam doesn’t want to plead, but he can’t lose Lucifer again so soon. “Give him one night. We need all the angels we can find, man!”

“Not this angel, dude.” Dean’s voice goes high with desperation, and Sam frowns. He wishes he could explain. “You gotta be out of your mind. What he tries to possess you again?”

“I can’t,” Lucifer offers. “It was a wonder that I managed to get Nick back in such good condition considering what I put him through, but I can’t change vessels.”

“None of us can,” Castiel says from the doorway. “He’s telling the truth.”

A shiver runs down Sam’s spine as he remembers the wash of cold that had accompanied Lucifer’s grace. He would never admit out loud that it had been welcome; it was more that he had never realized how hot he ran until Lucifer had come to soothe him. He can only imagine what that would do to a vessel not designed for it.

“I don’t want to hurt any of you.” Lucifer speaks to all of them but he’s still staring at Sam, like there’s another message behind his eyes that’s not meant for the others. “I want to go after Metatron and return the Host to Heaven. Metatron and I are currently the only fully powered angels in all of Creation.”

Sam sees it on Dean’s face when the argument gets through to him. Lucifer is a powerful weapon, and they need all the powerful weapons they can get. Sam is impressed at Lucifer’s ability to appeal to Dean in a way he understands.

Dean heaves a sigh and scrubs a hand over his face. There was no way for Lucifer to know that that was their plan, but here he was, asking to be a part of the team.

“I won’t hurt Sam,” Lucifer adds. “You have my word.”

Sam can’t believe his eyes, but that does it. Dean’s posture changes; he slouches down into his jacket and shifts his weight. It’s the same motions he used to make when Sam would bug him for a book they couldn’t really afford. He rubs at his five o’clock shadow to hide his grin. Even Lucifer is smiling, but it’s not victory on his face. It’s satisfaction.

“Tomorrow we are talking this through, and I am making the decisions. But for tonight, one room for angels, one room for humans. No negotiating. I am taking this with me,” Dean snarls, waving his gun at his side as he turns and heads towards the room that had previously been Sam’s.

“It won’t work on me,” Lucifer calls after him. It comes out almost like an apology.

“That doesn’t mean it won’t feel damn good,” Dean shouts before disappearing into the room.

Sam and Lucifer stand in the parking lot for a long moment before Sam finally turns to leave.

“I should, umm.” He gestures back towards the room and backs away.

Lucifer watches him go, then starts to follow, heading toward Castiel, who steps aside to let him into the room.

Sam stops by the doorway. “Cas, is this a terrible idea? I mean, he wants to help.”

Castiel looks away into the room and considers for a moment. “I don’t know. What do you think? You know him better than I do.”

With that he turns and leaves Sam alone outside his room, trying to figure out whether Castiel meant Dean or Lucifer.


End file.
